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CHAPTER NINETEEN OF TWENTY

❝ AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN ❞

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SWALLOWING HER FEAR, (NAME) PUT ON A FACE OF BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION. Her shoes squeaked under the floorboards. The further she got to the living room, the house behind her became destroyed. The wallpaper peeled and pictures fell to the floor. She ignored it. She approached the living room, which had the poisonous green light spilling from it.

The fire burned in the fireplace burned a venomous green. The bug furniture looked decrepit and greyed. Their once-illuminative glows were now flickering, like a faulty lightbulb. As if they were short-circuiting. Their legs and wings twitched uncontrollably. This made (Name) pity them a little.

She nervously entered the room, to find the large bug-shaped loveseat sitting by the fireplace. Eros was sitting on it. No longer was he the charming, sweet, raven-haired man with kooky button eyes, but rather a towering, eight-foot-tall monster. His skin looked completely burned and his button eyes shone darkly. One hand was human...the other was elongated and clawed, with sharp talon-like nails.

His face was hidden. "You're back..." Eros said. His voice wasn't coated with his sugar-sweet tone. His voice sounded scratchy, baritone and tired, "And you brought...vermin, with you, my dove~". He faced (Name), who defensively moved her bag so the animals were protected from Eros' deathly stare.

"No..." she corrected, "I brought friends,".

He reached his clawed hand to cup her cheek, poking her nose. "You know I love you," he said, almost flatly and void of emotions, he toyed with her hair, which was mussed and wild with cotton candy, dust and cobwebs "I've said it once. And I say as many times as I need to get the message in your head. I. Love. You,".

She pulled back from his touch. "No," she firmly said, "This isn't love. This...is an obsession. You're not in love with me...you're in love with the idea of me. You love how I'm different from the other women you've taken. You just want to sew buttons into my eyes and eat up my life, then just leave me to rot in the little room behind the mirror,".

Eros almost looked offended. "I love you," he firmly insisted, completely brushing off her statement, "Just look at how I've treated you so much better than Eric ever had! He had an affair with another woman-".

"And it's his own fault!" (Name) snapped. The Incubus was silenced, beckoning her to elaborate, "Well, I was pregnant. Okay?! Eric and I were expecting our first child. When I was seven months along, they told me that the baby didn't have...a heartbeat. I had to carry the baby in my stomach for the final two months of pregnancy and then give birth to my child...dead. I pushed away Eric for months. I just was hurting so much. And I'll admit...I don't love him anymore and I finally plucked the courage to leave him. But that doesn't mean I love you either. You changed my life, Eros. I would've given you a chance...had you not become...this monster!".

He pursed his lips. "So...where are they then?" he asked, changing the subject, "The ghost eyes...they were the main discovery of your little treasure hunt, my dove~".

He was deluded. Insane. Off his rocker, if he naively believed that (Name) would submit to him. She fished the three ghost eyes from her bag, revealing them in the palm of her hand. Eros leaned forward, with a maniacal grin. He attempted to snatch them into his hands, but (Name) retracted her hand. She put the ghost eyes back into her bag.

"Just a minute," she warns, "We're not done yet, are we Eros?".

Eros looked sweetly at her, but in reality, he was glaring daggers at her. He scoffed. "No, I suppose not," Eros spoke, annoyance laced in his tone, "After all, you still need to find your old husband. Too bad you won't have this,". He revealed the triangular rock around his elongated pinkie.

He tossed it into the fire swiftly, watching it melt. He laughed as some magic popped and sparked out of the melted rock. There was an amber light glowing from (Name)'s bag. She dug her hand into the bag, revealing the third ghost eye. The Irish woman's face lit up in the reflection, "Be clever, lass. If even thou wins, he will never let thee go!" she warned, disappearing.

"I know you wouldn't take your eyes off me so willingly, my dove~" he cooed, "What's caught my darling wife's attention?".

She stuffed the ghost eye into her bag, glancing up at him. "I know where you've hidden Eric," she declared. Eros looked disappointed.

He let out an annoyed groan. "Go ahead..." Eros mused, gesturing around the glowing living room, "Procure your bland husband who can't make a whole world for you...". The sarcasm was laced in his tone.

(Name) looked around the living room before her eyes landed on the little door. A plan was formulated in her head. "He's behind the door," she answered.

Eros leant very close to (Name), aware she was wrong, and in a mocking tone, asked "Oh, he is...is he?". (Name) mustered her confidence, nodding to him.

A wicked smile crept its way onto Eros' face. The eight-foot-tall man wandered over to the door, crouching by the little door. Whilst Eros was distracted, the cat leapt up onto the mantlepiece. Eros signalled for the armoire bug to move, which it did. The sound of a fingertip squeaking against glass sounded in (Name)'s ear.

"Over there," the cat whispered.

The image of Eric, standing freezing to death, in the reflection of their Snow globe from Venice made (Name) look at him in relief. "Ricky..." she whispered happily. The sound Eros coughed violently in the corner. He vomited up the black key. He placed it in the lock turning it.

He smiled evilly. "You're wrong, (Name)~" he crooned, opening the door to reveal the darkened, empty portal home, "He's not here. Now..." he brandished the silver needle and spool of the black thread, "You, my love, are going to stay here with me. Forever,".

"No. I'm. NOT!" (Name) yelled, yanking the cat from the mantlepiece and throwing him at Eros. She grabbed the snow globe from Venice and stuffed it into her bag. The cat flung through the air, yowling. The cat landed on Eros' burnt face, terrified, and sunk his claws into the warlock's face. Eros screamed in agony, flailing wildly at the cat. Quickly as possible, the cat scratched down on Eros' face.

The black buttons fell onto the floor, to reveal horrifically scarred, white, cloudy eyes and torn thread. The cat tossed onto the armoire bug, yowling and hissing angrily. Eros' hand covered his face, screaming in pain. Leela hopped out of (Name)'s bag and walked into the portal, retreating to safety.

"NO!" Eros yelled angrily, "YOU HORRIBLE, CHEATING BITCH!".

He furiously stomped the floor, which flew up in a spiral of floorboards which (Name) fell down in a scream of fear. There was a large web trap beneath the floorboards all this time. She was like the butterfly in the spider's web. At the bottom of the pit, there was a view into the white void of nothingness.

The furniture fell, getting caught in The Incubus' web like flies. The cat scrambled onto the falling furniture, scampering into the portal and back into the real world with Leela. (Name) was trapped at the bottom of the web trap. She looked up in horror, to find a blind Eros laughing maniacally as he flung himself down the fifty feet long web trap.

Frantically, (Name) got up and climbed out onto the other side of the web just as Eros landed. "NO!" Eros screeched, upon discovering his beloved wife wasn't at the bottom of the pit, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! (NAME)?! GET BACK HERE!".

(Name) continued to quickly climb the outside of the web, nearing the top. She looked up and spotted the little door. It was still wide open. She smiled victoriously. She goes climbing back into the inside of the web to get to the door when the worst happens. Her bag gets snagged on the web.

She manages to get it unstuck, not without it causing a strong vibration which spirals down to the bottom of the pit, quicker than anticipated. Eros feels the vibration, smiling wickedly. He begins to swiftly crawl upwards, aware of her location. (Name) quickly makes it up to the door, grabs the key and successfully manages to get into the portal.

Eros, unfortunately, managed to catch up with her. (Name) attempts to close the door, but screams bloody murder upon seeing Eros' disfigured, burnt face. "YOU DARE-" he yelled, but (Name) kicked his face away, "DISOBEY- YOUR HUSBAND?!". (Name) kicked his face away again.

Her hands attempted to yank the door closed, but Eros had other ideas. He tried to pull the door in the opposite direction. "HELP ME! PLEASE SHUT IT!" (Name) yelled as Eros' clawed hand reaches through the crack. The door begins to open slowly. But three pairs of ghostly hands emerge from (Name)'s bag and grip the door's handle, helping her shut it.

Miraculously, the door begins to shut. Eros is infuriated, snatching desperately for his wife, reaching through with a clawed hand. In the final moment of resistance, Eros' hand is caught between the door and the door shuts, slicing Eros' hand clean off. The black blood splatters against (Name)'s cheek. She quickly locked the door, tossing the key in her bag.

She gasped at the sudden contact of the blood. She panted heavily. Eros began to shriek like a banshee from the other side of the door. (Name) was quick to sling her bag over her shoulder and crawl away from Eros' animalistic screaming. "NO!" he screamed as the pounding door with a wicked green light shining through the edges began to get closer, "DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU! (NAME)! PLEASE NO! I LOVE YOU! DON'T LEAVE ME!".

She ignored the monster's desperate calls, falling through the other door back into her living room. She quickly locked the door. The key was spat out of the lock, flinging through the air and landing against the edge of the fireplace. She breathed heavily. She felt icky. (Name) ran a hand threw her mussed, dirty hair. Her other hand landed in a cool liquid.

She looked down at the puddle of glittery liquid. She looked up to see the dripping liquid of a broken snow globe. She did it. She won. She survived.